...You could try using a good come along connected from opposite corner to opposite corner.

Just let your paint dry it will eventually release all the solvents and get hard. Screwing around with it now could set you back farther than you are now.

gmakra- THANKS Brother!- You make a couple of very good points... one especially!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 243

Scott,

I don't know if the implement paint is oil base or not, but I painted my utility with Rustoleum heavy rust primer followed by their gloss black oil base paint and it took a long time to cure, but once it did it is hard!

I agree with gmakra, let it cure if you can but I don't know your schedule with the build.

Yes, it is oil based. I really appreciate y'all reinforcing this paint. My experience has been very good with it, but this has never happened before. Maybe Clay's 5 is cursed! Maybe I'M cursed??!! Egads.....

There is no schedule, Dave. That got blown with the removal of the first bolt!

__________________KerrdogGo Fish!<*////><

But the right word at the right time... "Hey, give me a little hug!" That's the difference between lightning and a harmless lightning bug!

It's not that I was jealous or anything. Just because Dave has a side-project... well, I was perfectly happy to watch him work on his Dodge. I wasn't LOOKING for anything else to do... but alas, my son felt like I needed an extra project!

So my 18 YO son...

Took my pretty Snapper...

And ran into this ugly pipe...

and now we got a mess!

JUST what I was hoping to do!

My wife is already asking how long the water is going to be off!

__________________KerrdogGo Fish!<*////><

But the right word at the right time... "Hey, give me a little hug!" That's the difference between lightning and a harmless lightning bug!

Hey Dave- Yes, we are working... soon as Mama lets go of us! Woke up this morning to scrambled eggs, homemade hashbrowns, home-grown sausage, grits, and cats-head biscuits. Now she figures we owe her! It's promising to be a hot and muggy day, as usual. Clay finished painting his tranny crossmember. New bushings arrived so now we can finish installing front springs/axle. Then I'll start measuring and probably get AJ over here to see if we are remotely in spec. If not, I have a frame shop lined up for Monday. Then there is the chance that I could actually end up with the frame that FamilyCJ7 found for me...

Quote:

Originally Posted by FamillyCJ7

I'm going to try to get pics of that frame for you today skerr. I hope it's what you need.

I really appreciate the offer Nick. It would be a great help. Nick found me a great deal on a frame... I just need to confirm that it will work. And then there is always the "Other Guy" who arrives to buy it before you get there...

Not really sure how this day is going to go. But we have 60% rain chance... so it could be solved already and I don't even know it!

__________________KerrdogGo Fish!<*////><

But the right word at the right time... "Hey, give me a little hug!" That's the difference between lightning and a harmless lightning bug!

Hey Dave- Yes, we are working... soon as Mama lets go of us! Woke up this morning to scrambled eggs, homemade hashbrowns, home-grown sausage, grits, and cats-head biscuits. Now she figures we owe her! It's promising to be a hot and muggy day, as usual. Clay finished painting his tranny crossmember. New bushings arrived so now we can finish installing front springs/axle. Then I'll start measuring and probably get AJ over here to see if we are remotely in spec. If not, I have a frame shop lined up for Monday. Then there is the chance that I could actually end up with the frame that FamilyCJ7 found for me...

I really appreciate the offer Nick. It would be a great help. Nick found me a great deal on a frame... I just need to confirm that it will work. And then there is always the "Other Guy" who arrives to buy it before you get there...

Not really sure how this day is going to go. But we have 60% rain chance... so it could be solved already and I don't even know it!

Alright... we got a little bit done today. After playing catch in the heat and discing up the garden, we finally got down to real bidness! I ordered new bushings to replace the nice, pretty bushings that I stupidly, yet intentionally, ruined! That was a result of installing the front springs backwards. Then Morris sent me the wrong bushings. That put me off for 3 more days, and I dislike immensely having to stop when I don't really want to stop! But all things considered... the new bushings arrived and we were good to go. I had to buy an entire set of front spring bushings, however. I couldn't buy just the bushings for the rear spring eyes. So now I have a lifetime supply of front suspension bushings. NOTE* If you are installing lift springs for the first time ever, keep in mind that the springeye/bushings will tell you which is forward and rearward for the spring. They only go one way. If you are trimming bushings (like I did) then you have either the wrong bushings, or you have the springs oriented the wrong way. Enough said... Here is the pack of bushings that Morris sent me. I took a pic of the new bushing and the original bushing that I ruined. Then Clay gooped up the new bushings with "Never-Sieze" and we installed everything. It was a PITA! Clay was hot, I was hot, we were both dripping wet with sweat. The fan was blowing on us but we weren't cooled down. Had to use a prize-bar to get the springs to drop in the hole. For some reason I am missing more tools out of my shop. No burglar, but boys I think! Missing 2 or 3 sockets and combo wrenches. I got pretty ill with Clay, but he says he didn't use them. So, by the time Clay was bolting up spring plates, the camera conked out! Then I discovered, as I held the spring plate from above, that the factory WT shock mounts, which are welded to the axle, would be in the way of the CJ5 mounts on the spring plate. Never thought about it! Would have been much easier to cut them off while the axle was OUT of the vehicle. Oh well... another project for another day. The main thing is to have the axles in place so that I can get it to the frame shop on Monday. They want a rolling chassis. Keep your fingers crossed for a good report.

__________________KerrdogGo Fish!<*////><

But the right word at the right time... "Hey, give me a little hug!" That's the difference between lightning and a harmless lightning bug!

Great photos. Keep them coming. In the above photo where Clay is standing in front of the rolling workbench, it almost looks like it has a glass top. I assume it's not glass...

LOL! NEVER on my best day could I have anything GLASS in my workshop. Even beer has to be in a can! It does look shiny though... it is mostly recycled wood that I made a roll-around work table. I keep the radial arm saw on it. I knew it would be "abused" over the years so I wanted something durable for a table top. Coincidentally, I had a side-job repainting a Goose-Neck trailer. Since the owner hauled cows he bought a 2-part, roll-on liner material for the inside of the trailer (can't remember the name... Speedex??). I borrowed some for the table top... rolled over wood. Worked very well. I also coated an old single-shot 12 gauge that I keep in the shop. No more rust!!

__________________KerrdogGo Fish!<*////><

But the right word at the right time... "Hey, give me a little hug!" That's the difference between lightning and a harmless lightning bug!

Here is a pic of the rolling chassis. You just woudn't believe what a trial it was to get to this point. This should have been, in my mind, one of the easiest things to do. I can tell you that I know a great deal about 1979 CJ5 frames at this point! Many thanks to CSP and others who have been teaching me about other frame years. Quite a few of the lessons I have learned, so far, have cost me money, sometimes significant money, without the benefit of a Professor or degree! You guys have saved me a lot of unneeded expense.

Using the specs from Dave's manual as an example, I learned that the crossmember/body mounts at the frame arch are too narrow (is there a name for this crossmember- can I get a new one?). According to the manual, the measurement from center of body mount to center of body mount should be 31.26" (illustration "K"). Mine is only 29 1/8"!! IF I AM READING THIS CORRECTLY! To really kill things for me, and make me want to go hunting, the PO installed his "once upon a time NEW" FG tub onto his "Look, Honey, I fixed it" frame. He actually drilled the holes for the tub KNOWING it wasn't right. ...
GYAAAWWWD!

Okay... I got a hold on myself! Question... can I cut through the middle of that crossmember, spread the horns to the proper width, and weld in a filler piece?? Seems like it would work. The other part of this deal is that the frame is no longer square... it is diamond-shaped. The left rail is ~1.00" ahead of the right. Why can't I cut the horizontal welds loose on the frame at each crossmember/brace... leave the vertical welds attached to the frame... and pull it back into shape. This would be on the shop floor with suspension removed. AJ says definitively "NO".

__________________KerrdogGo Fish!<*////><

But the right word at the right time... "Hey, give me a little hug!" That's the difference between lightning and a harmless lightning bug!

[QUOTE=Skerr;9921757]. NOTE* If you are installing lift springs for the first time ever, keep in mind that the springeye/bushings will tell you which is forward and rearward for the spring. They only go one way. If you are trimming bushings (like I did) then you have either the wrong bushings, or you have the springs oriented the wrong way.

Thanks for the tip. The last set of leaf springs I installed was on a 80 chevy shortbed in 1983. I'll order my new springs this week and now know a little more than I did yesterday.

On the frame, I'll have to agree with AJ. Seems like your best bet is the frame shop. You're not out of alignment much and should be a quick easy teak to straighten it out. Good luck.